Hopefully these guys will stay home tonight. Tonight at Yuk Yuks, 10 comedians will compete in the Great Canadian Laugh Off, the winner of which flies to beautiful sunny Toronto for the national finals (and boy, will their arms be tired. Hi-yoo!). No pressure either, considering that last year, Halifax’s Mark Little took home $25,000 funny bones. Little’s Picnicface pals are well-represented in the local finals, with Kyle Dooley, Evany Rosen and wildcard Cheryl Hann all competing, along with Josh Dunn, Catherine Robertson, Steve Mackie, Scott MacLean, Kyle Hickey, Peter White and Matt Labouki. We asked Coast cover laugh-lady Robertson
Comedy
Posted inArts + Music
Jon Lajoie’s musical chairs
Jon Lajoie moved to LA about a year ago “because,” he jokes on his website, “he’s an opportunistic douchebag.” It worked, and with conflicting emotions the Montreal-bred, R-rated musical comedian had to postpone his national theatre tour earlier this fall. But when Lajoie comes through Halifax this week, it’s not just as an internet celebrity, […]
Posted inArts + Music
World’s Greatest Dad
Robin Williams stars as a frustrated writer who rides a family tragedy to success in a black comedy that fails to find the balance between darkness and mirth. Williams plays high-school poetry teacher Lance Clayton, a schlub beaten down by professional rejection, the romantic manipulations of a colleague (Alexie Gilmore) and the sociopathic brattiness of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hall of fame: The Kids return to TV
From their early days on Toronto stages and then nationally, via a CBC show running from 1988-94, Kids in the Hall innovated and helped build Canadian comic tradition. The quintet returns to TV this Tuesday with a miniseries, Death Comes to Town, a murder-mystery send-up set in a small Ontario town. For the occasion, three […]
Posted inLifestyle
Complete guide to New Year’s Eve
NEIGHBOURHOOD TOP PICK DJ Anderoc If you live in the west end (or you’re up for cabbing there), The Armview has a solid neighbourhood gathering set up for New Year’s Eve. Chef Troy is making hors d’oeuvres to serve all evening, with bubbly at midnight. The lounge side of the restaurant will magically transform into […]
Posted inArts + Music
Santaland Diaries: All work and a play
Every adult knows the roles. Whether as a kid climbing onto Santa’s lap to snatch a spot on the “nice” list, as a parent forcing a child onto that same lap decades later or as a passerby watching the drama, the cliche of the mall Santa is part of the Christmas ritual. This year, Halifax […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jason Priestley on the Fitz
Cruising down Main Street, New Minas, you might not notice anything unusual in the Duncan Underwood Inn watering hole, besides its amusing acronym. There’s actually no alcohol on the premises; the bar is one of the sets for a new TV series shooting in town. Next door is a former Kia dealership. “Fitzpatrick Motors,” reads […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax comedy on the laugh track
[Editor’s note: this story is one of five Coast articles selected as finalists for the 2010 Atlantic Journalism Awards. All five stories are collected here.] Monday night at Gus’ Pub is a quiet affair, though the tables are dotted with tiny beer glasses. Chairs are filled with a mostly hoodie-wearing crowd. The disco twinkle of […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Comedian
“How peculiarrr,” writes Mark Little in an email upon hearing that he’s been voted Halifax’s Best Comedian again this year. He’s had a good 2009: he won a Yuk Yuk’s competition and the Just For Laughs Homegrown Competition. He’s been working with his Picnicface cohorts on a variety of projects, including a screenplay called Roller […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Yuk Yuk’s to stay on at Westin
A couple of weeks ago Shoptalk interviewed Yuk Yuk’s management about the comedy club’s then-impending move to Spring Garden, info duly relayed last week. But the move is evidently on hold, for the time being anyway. No one’s giving details or explanation, but we’re told that Yuk Yuk’s will remain at the Westin through at […]
Posted inArts + Music
Even cavemen deserve better
Year One‘s director Harold Ramis has explained that what separates his Old Testament comedy from Mel Brooks’ The History of the World, Part I is its narrative continuity. Because Year One has no unifying point or point-of-view, that difference is negligible. This is still an episodic sketch film, and a mostly flat one at that. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tracking the comic sounds of Michael Winslow
Michael Winslow is turning Japanese. “Domo arigato?” he squeaks in a bizarrely convincing female voice. “Where is the bank?” The self-described “voicestrumentalist,” stand-up comedian and veteran of seven Police Academy movies is on the phone from his Florida home. As will happen many times during our interview, he’s abruptly lapsed into one of his favourite […]
